MEETING OF CREDITORS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27751, 31 August 1955, Page 9

MEETING OF CREDITORS

BANKRUPT’S ASSETS TO BE VALUED Creditors of John Stanley, a jour--1 nalist, of ’37 Picton avenue, Riccar- " ton, who was adjudged bankrupt on " August 16, met yesterday. In his = statement of assets and liabilities, e Stanley showed debts totalling £1430 1 and assets totalling £1984 8s 6d, giv- " ing an estimated surplus of £742 8s * 6d. The meeting was adjourned sine y die, with instructions that the Official Assignee (Mr G. W. Brown) have t valued the bankrupt’s chattels, and " also have valued and, if advantageous, r sell a car. Stanley said in his statement that e about five years ago he was appointed liaison officer for the New Zealand e Flourmillers’ Society. His job was to s get in touch with farmers in an e effort to increase the acreage of e grain grown. He also wrote weekly e columns for about 35 newspapers - throughout New Zealand, he said, e Efforts by committees to have the e Government set up a soil-testing laboratory about this time had been unsuccessful, the statement said. A small group of men decided to start ? such a laboratory on a non-profit- ’ making basis. The organisation was j incorporated as the Agricultural Ada visory Laboratory in June, 1953. r From there stemmed the bankrupt’s r financial troubles, said Mr Brown. 5 ’ Other parts of the statement "conr tained matters of a contentious r nature,” including two amounts d claimed as due to the estate, he said. The life of the laboratory was short, said Mr Brown. In 1954, a

little more than 12 months after it had begun, it went into voluntary liquidation and, as most of the creditors knew, that was followed by a petition to the Court, sponsored by Stanley, to have the laboratory wound up by the Court. “That petition did not succeed. The question of the conduct, and in particular the re-r lationship of the bankrupt with the society, could be left to another meetn ing,” Mr Brown said. s Earning Capacity 5, Questioned by creditors, Stanley 0 said his earning capacity in the im- - mediate future would be about £2500 Is a year. He had his farm advisory e service, and intended to concentrate il on that. Farmers taking his service e paid him a retainer of £5O: alone d he could serve 60 farmers. s, Stanley’s accounts showed a personal expenditure of £3908 over the it last two years. Some of this had d gone in spending associated with the d laboratory, he said. o Creditors decided that all chattels n of the bankrupt should be valued and il that the Official Assignee should rey port the results to the next meeting s of creditors. It was also decided that the question of realising On a car e used by Stanley, but now repossessed, g should be left in the hands of the n Official Assignee.